Computer networks have facilitated the exchange of information for decades. Such computer networks include both wired networks and wireless networks. Historically, wired networks such as local area networks (LANs) that operate in accordance with e.g. an IEEE 802.3 standard were commonly created. Recently wireless networks that operate in accordance with e.g. an IEEE 802.11 or 802.15 standard are becoming more prevalent. Wireless networks that comport with IEEE 802.11 are typically referred to as wireless LANs (WLANs). Wireless networks that comport with IEEE 802.15.3 are typically referred to as wireless personal area networks (WPANs).
IEEE 802.15.3 in particular defines a physical layer and a Medium Access Control (MAC) layer for WPAN systems. WPAN typically relates to wireless ad hoc networks that allow a number of devices to communicate with each other. Such networks are often termed piconets. A set of devices forming a given piconet share a limited available communication bandwidth using a wireless channel. Each wireless communication involves a transmission that is sent from a received at a receiver or destination side. After successful reception across the wireless channel, the transmission may be acknowledged.
Three acknowledgment (ACK) policies are defined in IEEE 802.15.3. These three ACK policies are: Immediate ACK (Imm-ACK), No-ACK, and Delayed ACK (Dly-ACK). Imm-ACK specifies that an acknowledgment is to be sent from the destination side to the source side after each received unit. No-ACK enables the omission of acknowledgments. Dly-ACK specifies that an acknowledgment is to be sent after each specified number of received units. This specified number of received units between two successive acknowledgments may be changed. However, the IEEE 802.15.3 standard is open with regard to specifying the number of received units, or delay period, between acknowledgments.
Accordingly, there is a need for schemes and/or techniques that can set the delay period between acknowledgments in an efficient and/or productive manner.